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In Metropolis, there is a man in a dark suit. He's of a sort of non-descript middle age, not specifically young but nowhere near old.

As for what he's doing?

He's looking around. Learning. Absorbing local color. Picking up the lingo (which isn't as hard as it should be) and the customs. Occasionally having a meal somewhere and libating to that ever so beneficent monarch of the dead, Hades, just so he can explain the custom to curious onlookers. Carefully working minor miracles wherever it'll do the most good-- and once again, advertizing for the once and future Lord of the Underworld. Looking at maps, trying to figure out where he can start an underworld on this continent.

It's not his world. There's a lot to learn.

Good thing he got the brains in the family.

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The very tip of Morts left eyebrow raises in appreciation. "Yourself as well." It's interesting. Mort has never had a chance to meet any of the Elder Gods before. In his time, they've all left. But to see Hades, here, now, well.

Actually, it's a lot like looking at his fellow gods, just more set in stone then they are. And the probabilities are more... shrouded. Less hard facts, more straight prophecy. Interesting. "Hades, I presume?" It's all there, if you read it right.

"In the flesh. At the moment." That, after all, could change on a whim. He folded his arms and leaned back against the stalls. "You, on the other hand, aren't an Olympian." But he was a god. And he was in the mirror, which had to have some kind of significance. "Scrying a specialty?"

"At last we were together, we thought to apply the name 'North American Pantheon,' or just 'Norau.' That is, if you must label one by location." Mort steps to the next mirror, and then to shiny plastic door, before returning to in front of Hades. Trying to examine him from all angles, so to speak.

"My spheres of control include prophecy and reflection. A little eclectic, but I was not given a choice."

Hades stifled a snicker-- Norau? Acronyms? For gods? That was almost cute-- and managed it better than he usually would have. Mortal-shaped faces were slightly less fluid than his more accustomed form. "Scrying probably falls into that." At least with mirrors, which were a lot nicer here than Hades was used to. Silver and glass, who knew? Still, entrails were probably not something the other god was into. "So! If I had to hazard a guess, I'd guess you were new at this. Or possibly checking out the competition.

"I'd also guess you had a name you haven't told me."

Mort decides against fixing Hades' assumption that he's only looking through the mirror. No need to tip his hand.

"Fairly new. And from what I have been told of you dominion, no exactly competition. It is merely that you are the only other god level presence upon this world." Mort pauses, his head turning towards the left, looking at something off screen, so to speak. "Except for the Sleeper, and I'm actually rather glad there are no mirrors down there."

The corners of his lips turn up just the barest bit. "Ah, how rude of me. Mortimer Arthur. Generally, just Mort. Apparently it has a better ring to it for the worshippers."

It's always a competition. Although, true, with only two of them, there's a little more room for a laizes-faire attitude about things like worshippers and temples. Hades doesn't even have a temple yet, even if he's been checking out cemetaries and churches. Far cry from the necropoles he's used to.

"Mort, huh? Nice name. If we were in Rome, I'd think you worked for me." Well, except that nobody in their right mind would want to be in Rome right now, if they were mortal. "So. Making contacts, good call. Always a good idea to know who your neighbors are."

Morts got a temple.

Okay, he's got a single follower who set up a shrine. Big difference, right. But his one follower is a carpenter, so he CAN have a temple.

He'll have to get Xander on that.

"Rome is not the place to be right now, even for a god." Mort twitches, very slightly. Some of those vampires... fine, all of those vampires, quite disgusting. "Esstiantially. And, of a sorts, looking to gain knowledge from someone with more experience. They didn't hand out an instruction manual when the god wave hit."

Hades has one and a half minions, and an automaton-thingy he could probably swing over onto his side. It's an Underworld he needs, but that's an ongoing project.

"I thought you looked like a mortal suddenly bestowed with a godhead," Hades said, leaning forward. "Well, ask away."

Couldn't have the mortals coming away with an impression of incompetence from their gods, now, could they?

"How-" Mort stops himself, his hand to his mouth, considering what he wants to say. "Perhaps more importantly, when are you from?" So he doesn't ask any questions that upset the natural flow of time.

Or hint about the death of gods etc.

"A very definite alternate reality," Hades assures him. He'd poked around Greece just a bit, for old time's sake. It hadn't quite felt the same-- well, nothing feels the same, which is a pretty good argument for being in an entirely different universe. Reality. Continuity. Whatever you want to call it, Hades isn't picky, about that, at least.

"And so far, anyway, it's a one-way trip for all parties involved."

Morts eyes turn silver, his power calling itself up without his consent. "The future holds many surprises, and yet, there is hope. One will come, with the power to open the way." As his eyes come back to normal, Mort finds himself screwing up his face in disgust. "And sometimes, they're just that vague."

"I have my own theory," Hades said with a shrug, unbothered much about returning.

"To actually answer your question, sort of, in the Greece I left, everybody who was anybody went by chariot. Fortunately, I'm a fast learner." Even if he'd likely still use that old black chariot when he wanted to make an impression, just as soon as he found something to pull the thing.

"Somehow I'm guessing that isn't the senior-godly advice you're fishing for, however."

"I suppose, the only real question I have-" Mort strokes his chin, searching fro the right words. "Why do it? What's the point?"

"Of... what, being a god?" Hades raises an eyebrow. See, this is why it's something gods are usually born to. "To give reason and meaning, mostly."

Mort absorbs for a moment. Hades obviously isn't from the same universe. This one seems to have been a god from the git go, whereas back home- Well, things were different.

"I think, perhaps, we operate on two different levels."

"It's a thing. Happens. Gods who were born gods and gods who were born mortal-- there's a mindset difference.

"But lemme explain.

"Life? Exists. Without gods. Mortals exist, too. They run around, do their mortal thing. Eat, drink, be merry, fruitful, multiply, you get the picture, you were one once. It's what they do.

"Gods? We do that, too. But that's not all we do.

"Take your tectonic plates, for example. Always moving, always shifting around, making mountains, causing earthquakes. Speaking as somebody whose domain is everything under the earth, there's nowhere you can build that's really safe, for mortals. All it takes is something shifting just the right way and boom, the walls fall down, there's screaming and running and hey, more business for me.

"But you take a god. You put him in charge of what happens under the earth, what happens under the sea. Suddenly there's an order to these things, a pattern.

"Don't get me wrong, you'll still get earthquakes, tidal waves, volcanos doing their thing, thunderstorms, droughts, famines-- you name it. You'll get it.

"But there's always going to be a reason for it. Someone in charge of that happy little chunk of nature to blame-- or to propitiate. Something that can possibly be done to stop it or fix it. Some slight that can be remedied or injury to be repaired, yadda yadda.

"Reason," Hades repeated, "and meaning."

Cussing the weather was mighty poor farming. Sacrificing to Demeter, however, might just get you somewhere.

Mort strokes his chin. "So you're saying we're there to make humans feel better."

"... That is not exactly how I'd put it. I mean, Atlantis, Pompeii, and hey, look at Oddesyus. And Salmoneus. And Tantalus. And Arachne." Do not piss off the gods, for the are powerful and quick to smite. Or just turn you into something interesting.

"We're the thin divine line between a cosmos that makes sense and one where things just happen because they happen. I mean, look at the mess this place is in without a decent Underworld-- which I am getting right on as soon as I get a little more in tune with the place. Already shopping for real estate." Better than shades wandering around. Get some funeary rites going again, make a place for shades to go, maybe there'll be a little less trouble with stuff like the dead getting up and walking around. Vrykolakes. Oy. Entertaining, but messy.

Mort nods, absorbing the information. "Where, in general, were you planning on putting this new underworld?" His eyes go reflective, mirror images of hades looking back from each of them. "For death comes once more for this world, and madness besides."

Hades... well, it's still the human face, but it's the icon's expression. Because that's something Hades couldn't have figured out by leaving Kansas. Still, Mort's less... sticky than the Fates.

"Soon," he assures Mort. "When I find the right place to start? I'll know."

This world needed gods. If it was handing out warnings like that and had shades wandering all over the place unchecked and hey, not like there wasn't room for a few spectacular monster-smiting miracles, well. Basically it was a cry for divine intervention.

"They will not be stopped by mortal bonds. Life and death mean as nothing, for in their madness they can shape the world." His eyes fade back to normal, revealing a most distasteful look to Morts face. "If you're looking for some place above ground, lots of cleared space, no mortals capable of coming near, with some damnation already applied? Try to the west, where a town called South Park once resided."

The narration knows where he's going. The narration just doesn't know how it's going to go yet. The narration might need something for him to smite.

"It's you know, just slightly more complicated than that. Slightly." Thumb and forefinger held not far apart. "Besides, the 'no mortals allowed' rule tends to be self-enforcing except in extreme cases. And extreme cases are what legends are made of, so it's all good. "Besides, underground tends to be the most... it's got the right feel.

"Believe me, Mort. When I find it? I'll know. This place needs gods. We're handy to have around when the place is going straight to pot."

"Many people have been praying." Mort touches the side of his head, trying to indicate where the god feelings come from. Seriously, it's more like a sensation over the entire body, but usually, it comes from the head. "I can feel it. It's as if-"

Mort is not a very imaginative soul. Most of his theatrics come, not from attempts to be dramatic, but simply from the combination of his powers and his instincts. So similies are not a strong point. "Like a vast ocean, waiting to spill into whatever river might pop up."

Hades nods. Hades knows. Probably better than Mort does. "Direct their prayers, direct the power of their belief," Hades says. This is not what you'd call a secret. "They're just about ready for some miracles. Or at least for something to start going right."

Mort allows the corners of his lips to curl up in a slow smile. "I think I understand what you're getting at."